Kwolek

Watched 2 female-centric movies the past few days -” NANA” and “Hardcore”, both with questionable angles on female empowerment, but both interesting in their own ways.

“NANA” is the story of two Japanese girls named Nana, which is Japanese for 7. One is a somber punk (whose name is written in all caps – NANA – in the subtitles) and the other is a bubbly fashionista (just Nana), yet they end up sharing an apartment and relationship drama after meeting on a commuter train (and sharing a beer from a beverage cart – they have beverage carts on trains in Japan?!?). For me, the most interesting aspect of the film was the mega-trendy perfect-to-the-stitch iconic wardrobe. Punk, stoner, fashion plate, rock star, indie – text book to the nth. I can’t say these ladies were super “empowered”, though, seeing as they both went after wishy washy dudes who’d ditched them before.

As for “Hardcore”, the story of two teenage prostitutes out to make something bigger of their crappy world, it starts out quite strong, but meanders toward the end. It’s uniquely shot, with quirky set pieces, a rich color palette and lead actresses who look haunted and amazing, violent and vulnerable and wrecked and gangster. They’re in almost every frame of the film, and deservedly so – both are unique, fearless and fascinating to watch. Somehow, the post-pimp house portion of the film sort of goes stale for me, but there’s so much else to like. This was the first film by Dennis Iliadis, who then went on to direct the “Last House on the Left” remake, which I haven’t seen, but am now more interested in checking out. The original was kind of stupid and vile. Hmmm…

I am plowing through “A Clockwork Orange” on the bus to/from work. If that chick don’t get off her cell all loudmouth and bladda bladda bladda, there will be ultraviolence. Imagine the days when a book, it was afeared by them authority-types and psychological semi-experts, a BOOK, mind you, could lead one to acts of violence. Heavens!

So this track is called Moon. Now, I realize there’s a film called “Moon” that’s just out as well as a DS game on the horizon with the same name. BUT, this track, see, I began this track in like December, months before I heard about either of those other moons. So there. Why don’t I just change the name of the song if it’s bothering me so much? BECAUSE!

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I get so many clearly SPAM comments that it is difficult to tell if any of the comments I receive are NOT spam. D’ya know what I’m meanin’? Is there even a real “ya” to ask? Harumph.

Incidentally, Spam, the canned meat, now comes in turkey instead of pork, for all those health concious Spam eaters out there.

I’m in a ZONE. I am zoned. I am fully zoned. Zoning out. Zone, zoned, zoning. “Zone” – look at it. I’ve just typed it so much that it’s lost it’s meaning. What is it??? Ahhhh!

Watched half of Crows Zero before bed last night. Takeshi Miike+pompadours+puffy pants+teenage ultraviolence=YES!

Hopefully the second half will have as much hair and fisticuffs.

The DVDizz.

WeLoveYouSo

Books I’m automatically desirous of simply because they bear the name Taschen…

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. I liked it! In spite of itself in some ways. Fincher did a bang-up job of eliminating a lot of the cheese that could have totally ruined it. If a director like Spielberg or Zemeckis had been behind the camera, I’m sure it would have wallowed in sentiment.

That’s not to say the film was corn-free. The hummingbird? Hurricane Katrina? (Why???) The lightening struck-guy? The Gump-esque brushes with fame? But those issues were overshadowed by yet another mesmerizing performance by Kate Blanchett and the fascinating technical achievement in the combination of makeup and CG. I found myself absorbed in simply staring at faces a lot of the time.

Decay/vitality.

One thing about Fincher’s style that bothers me a bit, though, is his use of monochrome. Most of the film was brown. Colors did slowly became more and more saturated as Benjamin became younger. But I’m just sick of the whole “it’s old so it aught to be brown” thing. Give me color!

The ending – oddly moving, affecting, a strange mix of beauty and sadness. Blanchett holding baby Button in her arms – devastating and poignant. Good stuff.

The rain. The rain! It will always rain because that, apparently, is what IT does. Rain. All the time. In June. In New Jersey. Since when? Since this June. 2009’s June. Nearly every day this June – the rain! Thunder, lightning, downpours, drizzles, mists, sprinkles, spritzes, squalls, hail, torrents. The spring precip gamut.

I’ve been writing new music, but I don’t know what it’s for. Weird stuff. Like a song that Janet Jackson circa “Control” could sing. And a Mogwai-ish the-sky-is-exploding-in-colors-and-light jam. And a Cyndi Lauper rip off. And a Devo-ish snot-nosed bounce-inducer. And a sad-ish piano thing.